Follow the news

In the book, “Tuned out: Why Americans under 40 don’t follow the news,” David Mindich tracks the way young people have become progressively less informed about their world in recent decades.

He starts with a telling anecdote. Only 4 million of those aged 18 to 24 years old cast their vote in the 1998 midterm elections. By contrast, 24 million votes were cast, mainly by young people, in the 2003 final of American Idol, the reality talent show.

It’s not at all clear how market forces, left to themselves, will help to resolve this digital divide. What commercial interest would a news publisher have in seeking to engage a relatively unsophisticated and uninterested young person into what’s happening in the world? And as economic forces increasingly shape editorial judgments, how will we be able to develop a properly informed citizenry?


There are no signs that US policymakers have any interest in this agenda, or serious concerns about the risks........ What about the UK?


RICHARD LAMBERT,2006,“THE FUTURE OF THE NEWS IN THE DIGITAL ERA”, ANNUAL WINCOTT FOUNDATION LECTURE, Oxford Unıversity's study of Journalism, http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/